By and large, Elton John's quality went way down hill after the beginning of the 80's, and he's only just beginning to pick himself up. But 1995's 'Made In England' was an exception. It's still nowhere near the quality of what he did in his early years, but there's enough to recommend it.
Best Songs: Made In England; Belfast
485) Fear Factory - Obsolete (1998)
The highest selling album from the industrial metal band led by Burton C. Bell. It's a concept album about a future in which machines have taken over humanity.
Best Songs: Edgecrusher; Resurrection
484) New York Dolls - New York Dolls (1973)
The debut album from the New York rock band that looked like they would be playing the glam metal that became popular in the 80's (who based their image on the NYD), but actually played music that was far closer to punk. David Johansen was the vocalist, but the true star of the band was guitarist Johnny Thunders. This album and their follow-up, 'Too Much Too Soon' have proven hugely influential with pretty much every rock musician (regardless of subgenre) ever since.
Best Songs: Trash; Jet Boy
483) The Replacements - Don't Tell A Soul (1989)
The last "true" Replacements album ('All Shook Down' was intended as Paul Westerberg's debut solo album, and only features the full band on one song... the record label insisted they release it as a Replacements album instead), features the band completing their journey from hardcore punk troublemakers to laid-back, Dylan style acoustic rock/folk music. This also features the band's only actual "hit", peaking at 51 on the US Billboard Hot 100. This was the album to introduce Slim Dunlap to the line-up, replacing founding member Bob Stinson who was fired whilst recording demos for their previous album, 'Pleased To Meet Me'. Slim has recently suffered a stroke, prompting Westerberg and Tommy Stinson (Bob's younger brother) to record a covers EP together as The Replacements in order to raise money for his medical fees.
Best Songs: Talent Show; I'll Be You
482) Peter Murphy - Ninth (2011)
As the title suggests, this is the ninth solo album by Bauhaus singer, Peter Murphy. Despite his distinctive voice being perfect for the gothic rock his former band are famous for, this is a much more straight-up rock affair.
Best Songs: Velocity Bird; Slowdown
481) The Rolling Stones - Aftermath (US Version) (1966)
I've always preferred the US versions of the Stones' classic albums, as the UK versions for some reason omitted all of the best tracks. For example, on this album, the UK version does not feature the classic 'Paint It, Black'. Released in 1966, this was the album which really saw the songwriting team of Jagger/Richards come into their own, with previous releases being comprised mostly of covers. This, by contrast was entirely original compositions by the duo. While the best was yet to come, this provides a look at the potential that the band were soon to achieve.
Best Songs: Paint It, Black; Under My Thumb
480) Ozzy Osbourne - Down To Earth (2001)
Ozzy's last album before being made a laughing stock with an MTV "reality" TV show, features him and the band on form that it would take nearly a decade to return to. Other than regular guitarist Zakk Wylde (who had left the band and only rejoined after songwriting was completed), the band features Robert Trujillo (who would later join Metallica) on bass, and Mike Bordin (formerly of Faith No More) on drums.
Best Songs: Gets Me Through; No Easy Way Out
479) Oasis - Definitely Maybe (1994)
The debut album from the Manchester rock band, and extremely influential in the early 90's rise of so-called "britpop". Unlike most of their contemporaries, Oasis actually managed to make a couple of records that have stood the test of time. 'Rock 'n' Roll Star' is still one of the best songs Noel Gallagher has ever written.
Best Songs: Rock 'n' Roll Star; Slide Away
478) Ozzy Osbourne - The Ultimate Sin (1986)
One of two albums to feature guitarist Jake E. Lee, this album has been mostly forgotten, which is a shame because I far prefer to the other Lee-era album, 'Bark At The Moon', which features some of the most embarrassing choices of Ozzy's career.
Best Songs: The Ultimate Sin; Shot In The Dark
477) Elton John - Blue Moves (1976)
Elton John's eleventh album (and how anybody ever managed to release eleven albums in seven years is beyond me), is more experimental than his previous efforts, with heavy use of the London Symphony Orchestra. Strings had been a hallmark of John's sound for a while, but this is his only album to essentially be symphonic rock. The experimentation mostly paid off, though there are a few dips during the nearly 90 minute running time.
Best Songs: One Horse Town; Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word
476) Evely Evelyn - Evelyn Evelyn (2010)
Evelyn Evelyn are the brainchild of Amanda Palmer and Jason Webley. The pair play conjoined twins, Evelyn and Evelyn Neville, and the album tells their tragic, often disturbing life story. The combination of alternative rock, dark cabaret and spoken word tracks that fill out the girls' back story fluctuates between eerie, amusing and upsetting, but I won't say too much if you haven't already listened to it. Look on Youtube for videos of performances... it's particularly impressive when they both play the same guitar.
Best Songs: Evelyn Evelyn; A Campaign Of Shock And Awe
475) Stevie Wonder - Innervisions (1973)
Sixteenth album by Stevie Wonder, in which the blind musician sings about such topics as drug abuse, social anger and love. By now, Wonder had firmly planted his feet in the world of music history, and with tracks like 'Living For The City', 'Higher Ground' and 'He's Misstra Know-It-All', actually managed to strengthen his position.
Best Songs: Living For The City; Higher Ground
474) Queen - The Works (1984)
After a brief ill-judged dip into funk and disco, Queen returned to their rock roots with 'The Works'.
Best Songs: It's A Hard Life; Hammer To Fall
473) Aerosmith - Done With Mirrors (1985)
Aerosmith's first album on Geffen Records features the return of guitarists Joe Perry and Brad Whitford who took a brief detour after falling out with Steven Tyler and were repleaced by Jimmy Crespo and Rick Dufay on the ill-fated 'Rock In A Hard Place'. The opening track was actually written by Joe Perry during this period, and released as the title track of his debut solo album, but was re-recorded when the rest of the band mentioned how impressed they were with the song. 'Done With Mirrors' seems to actually be among the band's least favourite recently, but it's a good album nonetheless. And the last before the band became more commercial-sounding... the jury's still out on whether that was a good idea.
Best Songs: Let The Music Do The Talking; My Fist Your Face
472) System Of A Down - Steal This Album! (2002)
A year after the release of 'Toxicity', unfinished demo's of the band's follow-up were leaked onto the internet. In response to this, the band quickly released 'Steal This Album!', which features finished versions of most of the songs that had leaked, as well as three previously unheard songs. It's often misrepresented as a collection of B-Sides and outtakes, but was actually planned to be released at some point anyway as a full album. The album turned out to be everything 'Toxicity' was and more... that is, there are heavier bits, more melodic bits, more shouty bits, etc.
Best Songs: Mr. Jack; I-E-A-I-A-I-O
471) The Raconteurs - Consolers Of The Lonely (2008)
More Jack White. This is actually my favourite album that he's ever been a part of. Songs like 'Salute Your Solution' remind me of the best of The White Stripes, but there's a lot more on offer here than that.
Best Songs: Consoler Of The Lonely; Salute Your Solution
470) Izzy Stradlin - 117 Degrees (1998)
Six years after the release of his debut as a solo artist, Izzy Stradlin released this superior follow-up. This time, his backing band features fellow Guns N' Roses refugee, Duff McKagan on bass. Before the release of 'Like A Dog', this unfortunately became the last of Izzy's solo albums that I enjoyed very much. All have good tracks on them, but he began taking ill-advised steps into reggae... a genre that I believe you should not go near if your name isn't Bob Marley.
Best Songs: 117 Degrees; Methanol
469) Black Label Society - Sonic Brew (1999)
The debut album from Zakk Wylde's Black Label Society. The band hadn't gotten a full line-up at the time, so Zakk handled all instrumentation except for the drums which were played by Phil Ondich. Despite being predominantly metal, there are traces of Southern rock in these tracks that are reminiscent of Wylde's earlier solo efforts.
Best Songs: Born To Lose; World Of Trouble
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